Name: Orsak, Roxanne
Title: Executive Vice President of HEB
Texas A&M Class: 1988
Inducted: 2011
Roxanne Orsak, beginning her career with H-E-B Grocery in the management trainee program, has grown with that company which used to call itself H-E-B Grocery Company and now refers to itself simply as H-E-B. She is now Executive Vice President of Drug, General Merchandise, and Format Development, with H-E-B having grown in annual sales from $5 billion in 1996 to $16 billion in 2010. The largest privately-owned company in Texas, H-E-B now markets groceries and packaged products, and owns and operates a chain of retail stores that offer food, meat, and confectionary products, pharmaceuticals, and flowers. Additionally, HEB provides services for credit cards, insurance, digital imaging, online marketing, and drug information.
Roxanne has held a wide range of positions and studied broadly in her career growth. Graduating cum laude with a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University in 1988, she spent nine years in operations as store manager, district manager, and director of selling and advertising. In 1993, she graduated from the University of Southern California’s Food Industry Management program and was named Student-of-the Year. In 1996, Roxanne participated in Cornell University’s Food Industry Management Program and in May 2002, she graduated from the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
Meanwhile, on the H-E-B front, Roxanne had moved from operations into marketing. In 2001, Roxanne was named Vice President of DrugStore Procurement and in 2002, she became Vice President of Health, Personal Care, Cosmetics, Natures Harvest, and Photo, leading the entire merchandising and procurement efforts. She was named Group Vice President-Drugstore and General Merchandise in 2003 when General Merchandise was added to her accountability. Later, she was promoted to Senior Vice President-Drugstore and general Merchandise in 2004. She was again promoted in 2008 to Executive Vice President of Drug, General Merchandise and Value Format Development.
Roxanne has participated in many projects and rollouts for H-E-B, including, in 1997, the creation of a Kosher Store at the Austin location at 7025 Village Center Drive. Customers commented that before this was opened, they had to do much of their “kosher” buying by mail order or through coops and sometimes had to simply omit some of the foods required for Sabbath.
In 2004, she developed the Plus store concept for H-E-B, which added 50,000 square feet of General Merchandise to an already powerful food offering. H-E-B now operates 25 of the formats, with plans to open 3-5 per year.
In 2010, Roxanne and her team developed and opened Joe V’s Smart Shop, a limited assortment, deep discounted format in inner city Houston.
Beginning in 1999, she has regularly visited the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University to serve as “Professor for a Day” in Dr. John Siebert’s AGEC 340 and 481 courses.
A triathlon runner and Schulenburg High School alumnus, Roxanne and her husband, Joe, have two daughters, Victoria and Sarah.
